The Catalyst

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Across our health care system, it’s critical that patients always remain at the center of our shared efforts to improve, extend and save lives. For PhRMA and the industry writ-large, this is a bedrock mindset and ongoing access to innovative medicines represents health care’s best shot at preventing and managing costly chronic diseases. This week, we focused on the importance of patient access – along with safety – both in the United States and around the globe.

Through innovative immunization practices, smallpox has been eradicated, polio and measles have nearly been eradicated and diseases like hepatitis A and B and some forms of cancer have been prevented. Vaccines have profoundly impacted patient health, and while their success has been life altering for millions of people around the world, there is still progress to be made.

Mental illness, whether we realize it or not impacts us all. 61.5 million Americans or one in four has a mental illness. The statistics can be alarming when you take a deeper look: One in 20 U.S. children has ADHD, 21 million American adults currently suffer from depression, and 40 million Americans have some type of anxiety disorder. But there is hope.

Hepatitis C impacts an estimated 3.2 million Americans. Between 60 and 70% of those with hepatitis C develop chronic liver disease, between 5 and 20% will eventually develop cirrhosis, and an estimated 12,000 die from hepatitis C related illness each year.

China’s Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning to patients that it cannot guarantee the safety, authenticity and efficacy of cancer medicines purchased online. The new warning was issued after a study by drug regulators in Shenzhen found that 75 percent of foreign cancer medicines purchased online were found to be counterfeit or ineffective.

Yesterday, stakeholders had an opportunity to meet with and present to negotiators participating in the fifth round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks taking place in Arlington, Virginia.

TheAtlantic today led a discussion around the value and cost of innovative medicines. This is an important topic and one that all partners in the U.S. health care system must continue to discuss. Most importantly, patient voices need to be a part of any discussion around the value of innovative medicines. As this debate moves forward, here are some additional facts that need to be a part of the discussion.

While today is International Clinical Trials Day, at PhRMA we recognize the groundbreaking advances in medicine made possible by clinical trials and the critical contribution of the patients who volunteer in clinical trials every day.

Last week, after an election process that took more than a month to complete with a record 550 million votes cast, the Indian people elected a new Prime Minister in a landslide election that unseated the country’s ruling Congress party. Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won enough seats in the lower house of Parliament to form a government.

Our member companies strive every day to bring innovative new medicines and treatments into the market to improve the lives of patients, both in the United States and abroad. Access to high-quality medicines is our common goal and top priority. Unfortunately, some health plans now being offered make it more difficult for people to get access to the medicines they need.

There have been a lot of discussions lately about the value and cost of cancer medicines – it is also an issue that will be raised at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) annual meeting.

Biopharmaceutical innovators work every day to build a robust pipeline and develop new medicines that help patients cope with some of the most debilitating diseases. This week, we released a new Medicines in Development report on mental health disorders that discussed a number of new approaches being pursued in order to treat these conditions. Currently, an estimated 61.5 million Americans suffer from mental illness, or one in every four U.S.